Obama admin sponsors UN small arms treaty, despite Senate disapproval

posted at 9:11 pm on April 2, 2013 by Erika Johnsen

The oh-so-esteemed bureaucrats at the United Nations have been looking to slap some regulations on the small arms trade via an international treaty for quite some time, but the United States has never really cottoned on to that idea. The Senate has to ratify all treaties by a two-thirds majority, and in one of the amendment votes to their budget just last month, the Senate voted 53-46 to specifically prevent the U.S. from signing on to the U.N.’s proposed Arms Trade Treaty.

The Obama administration don’t care. The president expressed a willingness to get behind such a thing near the start of his tenure, conspicuously backing off as last November’s election approached but then jumping right back on the progressive globalist bandwagon. Now, this is happening:

The United Nations’ overwhelming approval Tuesday of an arms trade treaty opposed by the National Rifle Association (NRA) sets up a showdown between President Obama and the powerful gun lobby’s friends on Capitol Hill.

President Obama is expected to sign the treaty within the next few months after the United States joined 153 other countries in supporting the treaty.

The Senate, however, has vowed to block ratification, which requires a two-thirds majority and is needed for the treaty to be legally binding on the U.S. …

The treaty, which has been under negotiation for seven years, requires countries to create internal mechanisms to ensure that their arms exports aren’t likely to be used to harm civilians or violate human-rights laws.

The treaties’ advocates claim that the regulations are only meant to help stop terrorism, genocide, and war crimes, which sounds wonderful in theory — if only the United Nations could manage to demonstrate any kind of consistent commitment to thwarting such crimes against humanity instead of constantly serving as forum for some of the world’s worst actors to try and legitimize themselves.

UN Arms Treaty should be rejected outright by US Senate. It is international gun regulation, plain and simple & it must never be ratified

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Every Republican running for office should ask his or her Democrat opponent one question at debate time: “Do you support Barack Hussein Obama, the President who…”, and then rattle off a list of offenses, of which this particular sponsorship will be a nice, juicy part.

The Obama administration don’t care. The president expressed a willingness to get behind such a thing near the start of his tenure, conspicuously backing off as last November’s election approached but then jumping right back on the progressive globalist bandwagon.

Wouldn’t this treaty cramp his style when it comes to clandestinely arming the Syrian Rebels a/k/a AQ & Muslim Brotherhood?

Treaties, including those ratified by the Senate, do not supercede the United States Constitution. Reid v Covert, 354 U.S. 1 (1957). This Treaty would not overrule or trump Heller or McDonald. That being said, I agree with Senator Cruz. Don’t ratify it. You never know what a future Court might do on the Second Amendment or international law.

When one man unilaterally decides to adopt an international treaty without the consent of the people through their elected representatives, this is violation of the Constitution and clear grounds for impeachment.

Whenever I think of the UN and other international organisations and want a good chuckle, I think of what Senator Fritz Hollings said in 1993 to explain why he liked to attend international conferences:

“Everybody likes to go to Geneva. I used to do it for the Law of the Sea conferences and you’d find those potentates from down in Africa, you know, rather than eating each other, they’d just come up and get a good square meal in Geneva.”

While there was undeniably a racist flavour to what he said, I do think about the fact that nutjobs like Qaddafi and Ahmadinejad are feted and countries like Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Libya, etc, get put on the human rights council and women’s rights commission is kind of like putting potentate-eating potentates in charge.

Republicans joining the only three countries who voted no, that is Iran, North Korea and Syria to oppose Obama. Criminals are criminals after all.

lester on April 2, 2013 at 10:13 PM

Russia and China, along with many other countries, abstained. Do you know why?

And, les, luv, I really don’t want to hear any moralising from you. When you figure out why it is not only illegal, but barbaric, to kill babies born from botched abortions, i.e., they are FULL human beings, FULL American citizens, and are entitled to ALL of the rights that you enjoy under the Constitution and existing law, then I will start paying attention to your tortured logic and moral sermonising.

Its ok for the federal government to run guns to drug cartels in Mexico. Its ok for them to give arms to rebels in Libya and Syria. Johnny Boy McCain said so. But if we Americans want to arm ourselves with “weapons of war”, we’re bitter clingers and terrorists.

I’ve worn this out, showing it to y’all so many times that I know some are ready to scream ……………
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This . . . . is . . . . “T H E . . . . A G E N D A” . . . . . . . . . . . . period.
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The real “powers that be”, behind the scenes, want their ‘ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT’ … NOW ! ! !
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The United States is the only country standing in the way of the their goal, and the armed American citizen (as of now) is the single greatest amount of “resistance” they’re going to face, in trying to “take us.”

Our economy is about to crash (by design), which will throw all of American society into turmoil. So simply put, they see this as the single best opportunity to finally overcome that “last remaining obstacle.”

UN=international crime organization backed by Socialists and crony-Capitalist bankers. And if you don’t think Socialists have worked with the Mafia, elected officials and wealthy financiers in the past, then you don’t know the first thing about late 19th or early 20th century history.

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Just add this to the bottom (for today) of a very long list of things Owe has done. It makes no difference, there is NO ONE in the US government that is still doing the people’s work.

katablog.com on April 3, 2013 at 12:03 AM

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I’m pretty cynical, Kata’. But I’m not that cynical.

I will concur that the numbers of U.S. Government members who are still trying to do their job with pure motives towards serving the American citizen is SMALL, and that they are “overwhelmed” by the corruption.

This Administration seems bound and determined to make America into just another nation, assigning American Exceptionalism to the trash heap of history.

Their pure ignorance to America’s place in the world is overwhelming. Only by standing up to the thug nations represented at the UN, will America be respected, and left alone, as the sovereign nation that we are.

As regards the present situation, concerning American citizens and the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States: Average Americans do not trust the United Nations, or the present occupier of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC.

Apparently the people at the UN have nothing better to do, have way too much time on their hands, and have way too much money to spend paying each other to do basically nothing. It is the quintessential Orwellian bureaucracy, except that it has no power. So it issues what it views as utopian “perfect world” pronouncements.

What’s next on their agenda? Official international disapproval of sugary beverage servings larger than 16 ounces?

Whatever uses it once might have had, the UN has become worse than useless. It is now a time and money waster.

This Administration seems bound and determined to make America into just another nation, assigning American Exceptionalism to the trash heap of history.

Their pure ignorance to America’s place in the world is overwhelming. Only by standing up to the thug nations represented at the UN, will America be respected, and left alone, as the sovereign nation that we are.

As regards the present situation, concerning American citizens and the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States: Average Americans do not trust the United Nations, or the present occupier of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC.

kingsjester on April 3, 2013 at 6:56 AM

The only exceptionalism Barack HUSSEIN Obama believes in is his own. And why not? Has any other individual in the history of the world been handed more wealth and praise for less effort?

Obama could club a baby seal on national TV, turn to the camera and say, “F*ck you, America,” and the Mathews, Beckels, and Bidens of the world would line up to explain that what he just did was somehow in the public good.

The Vichy French have nothing, NOTHING, over the modern liberal Democrat. Traitors to our country, and to its priciples and ideals, doesn’t begin to cover it.